But Alameda County prosecutors charged Godinez with murder and felony drunken driving on the grounds that he acted deliberately without regard for human life. Godinez, who was hurt in the crash, is being held without bail at the infirmary at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Godinez was driving north on East 14th Street at a high speed about 10:45 p.m. March 22 when he crossed into oncoming traffic near Davis Street and smashed into a vehicle driven by Ramirez-Juarez, police said.

A 56-year-old passenger in Ramirez-Juarez's car was also injured.

Prosecutors have sought murder convictions in a number of Bay Area roadway deaths, often in cases where a motorist is intoxicated and has past convictions for drunken driving.

To prove second-degree murder, the government must show "implied malice," that a driver engaged in an intentional, unlawful act done with conscious disregard for the risk to human life.